


A Certain Necklace of Jade

by SecondStarfall (beantiger)



Series: The Second Starfall Stories [5]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Asexual Character, Asexual Relationship, Asexuality, F/F, Fairy Tale Elements, Fairy Tale Style, Fantasy, Flash Fic, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Female Character, LGBTQ Themes, Marriage, Marriage Proposal, Medieval, Microfic, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Necklaces, No Lesbians Die, Originally Posted Elsewhere, Panic Attacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:42:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22059523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beantiger/pseuds/SecondStarfall
Summary: The guard had never pushed. Never pressured. Waited, if that was what the botanist needed. Went away, if the botanist wanted that, too. Reappeared at the right moments, though. Always.***The chief guard proposes to her love, the botanist—with unexpected results.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Female Character
Series: The Second Starfall Stories [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1582975
Kudos: 20





	A Certain Necklace of Jade

**Author's Note:**

> This is a version of the original Twitterfic, same title, posted over at my now-deactivated personal account in December 2019. It has been given minor edits for consistency with other stories and readability on AO3. ❤️ 
> 
> **SUGGESTED RE-READING:** Meet these two gays in ["The Botanist's Most Important Failure."](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21990349)
> 
> ✨ [[see the full SecStar timeline](https://secondstarfall.com/index.php/Official_Timeline) | [check out the SecStar wiki](https://secondstarfall.com/)] ✨

Like the eyes of dragons, the beads on the jade pendant gleamed with wildness—and certainty. They hung around the botanist's neck, terribly heavy, terribly exhausting.

"My mother's," said the chief guard. "She was a favorite of merchants everywhere, but had no particular need for trinkets, so she gave them all to me. I need them even less—I've sold most to pay for soldiers' funerals, and...I know it's an unusual gift—" 

"This is the last," the botanist replied. "This is the last trinket, and you want me to have it."

"If you'll have my hand in marriage."

 _Ah,_ thought the botanist, _this guard of mine._ Their courtship had stretched on for half a decade, slow as a spring river and twice as gentle. The guard had never pushed. Never pressured. Waited, if that was what the botanist needed. Went away, if the botanist wanted that, too. Reappeared at the right moments, though. Always.

But these beads, these beads—a burden. They couldn't have been real jade. Lead, maybe. 

"What kind of stone is this?" asked the botanist. She could hardly breathe. The air in her tower seemed oppressive, suddenly. "These are like bullets."

"You can say no."

Gritting her teeth, the botanist forced herself to speak: "I want to say yes. But you would be waiting for nothing."

"Nothing?"

"These beads are so damn heavy—"

"You cannot really mean _you're_ nothing," said the guard. "Not after all this time. I'm a dunce, but I'm not mad."

The botanist stepped back, stooping under the weight of the pendant. It hurt to look her lover in the eyes. 

"You're not yourself," said the guard, reaching gently for her arm.

"And you're not a dunce. I've been lying to you," the botanist replied. "I've led you on for the better part of ten years." Quivering, she slid the pendant off, then turned away her gaze. 

"I promise that 'no' is an acceptable answer," the guard said.

"It isn't about acceptable answers." The botanist held the pendant out. "It's about what I can't give you. And I cannot, _cannot,_ give you my body. That's the whole point of marriage, no?" 

When the guard leaned against the botanist's desk, the botanist joined her, still looking away, still attempting to return the pendant.

"We knew my mind was broken. I suppose my body is, too. And perhaps my soul," the botanist added.

"Little flower—"

"I can't give you passion, and I can't give you children—the very idea...I have tried lying to myself, for your sake, but it would only hurt us both. And so."

The guard enclosed the beads, and the botanist's hand, with her own. 

"Is that why you've put it off so long?" the guard said, then kissed the botanist's knuckles. "Had you mentioned something sooner...hm. To be short: I can take or leave lovemaking. As for children—eh."

They faced each other, both red-faced as adolescents. 

"I suppose there must've been a reason," the botanist said, "why you could be celibate for five years on my behalf."

"I promise you. You just have to talk to me," said the guard. "Don't I tell you my every thought? The few I have."

"Oh, stop." 

Miraculously, the pendant became buoyant as the guard placed it around the botanist's neck again. Its green-gold beads twinkled in the candlelight, and the botanist grinned.

Said the guard, "May I ask again—"

"The answer is yes." 

"Can't you let us have a moment of courtly romance?"

"Not a second."

They held each other.

"No children," the guard added, "but I do like dogs."

"I don't want nasty animals in my tower."

"Give me the beads back, then, you—"

And the night was filled with laughter.

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment or a kudos or whatever the heck if this tickled your fancy. There shall be more! ❤️
> 
> ✨ [[see the full SecStar timeline](https://secondstarfall.com/index.php/Official_Timeline) | [check out the SecStar wiki](https://secondstarfall.com/)] ✨
> 
>  **AUTHOR'S COMMENTARY:** I think I wrote this story much later than where it's listed here in the series. It feels like the culmination of their relationship, of a few stories. But maybe not.
> 
> Anyway, positive asexual representation and communication are so important. The botanist is sex-repulsed asexual, and the guard is more like grey ace. I like to imagine the botanist put off having sex for a long time with very silly reasoning, fearing that the guard would reject her. Like, she constantly said she was having her period or something. And the guard never put two and two together, because she's got the most endearing traces of Karen from _Mean Girls_ inside of her.


End file.
